Going through the motions was something that I now look back and realize I did throughout my entire High School career. I remember one particular time when I was absent and the teacher would not allow me to stay after school to get extra help with what I missed. She said I must teach myself, lecturing me that in college I will have to do a lot of teaching myself (which I later learned was not the case at all). Instead of teaching myself I simply copied my friends' work and called it quits. I was frustrated with how the teacher responded to me asking for extra help. All throughout High School I remember those students who only took an honors course because their parents thought it would look good on their college applications. I never once remember a student saying, "hey, I'm going to take this class so I can learn something new and enjoy it." Learning and enjoying don't seem to be two words teachers like to put together, which is a shame and is the one of the reasons I am in the MA/TCP program. I think that students can be taught in a way that keeps their attention and makes them want to learn more. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count how many times I simply skimmed a chapter to answer the questions at the end of the text. I read the questions first and quickly caught on that the first question was usually in the first paragraph, the second question was in the 2nd or 3rd paragraph and so on.
When I entered college, I caught myself still playing the game but not as much. I realized school was being paid for and I had to take it more seriously and carefully when I learned quickly that old readings and assignments related to new ones. I can't say that I didn't play the game of school during my entire undergrad degree, but, I truly did try to stay away from it. In college it's sort of easy to play the game with some professors, especially if you use Rate My Professor website to get a feel for them before actually taking the class. Some professors simply require attendance to class to count as a large chunk of your overall grade. Some professors don't have any exams, and other professors (that I have had) let you have a take home exam. Professors like this seem to be the easiest to play the game of school with. You can attend class, not pay attention, and still get an A. With a take home exam, all you simply have to do is go back and look for the answers, or even better, google them! New technology has made the game of school even easier than it initially was and it's sad to see so many students and teachers playing this game just to simply get by.
Going through the motions was something that I now look back and realize I did throughout my entire High School career. I remember one particular time when I was absent and the teacher would not allow me to stay after school to get extra help with what I missed. She said I must teach myself, lecturing me that in college I will have to do a lot of teaching myself (which I later learned was not the case at all). Instead of teaching myself I simply copied my friends' work and called it quits. I was frustrated with how the teacher responded to me asking for extra help. All throughout High School I remember those students who only took an honors course because their parents thought it would look good on their college applications. I never once remember a student saying, "hey, I'm going to take this class so I can learn something new and enjoy it." Learning and enjoying don't seem to be two words teachers like to put together, which is a shame and is the one of the reasons I am in the MA/TCP program. I think that students can be taught in a way that keeps their attention and makes them want to learn more. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count how many times I simply skimmed a chapter to answer the questions at the end of the text. I read the questions first and quickly caught on that the first question was usually in the first paragraph, the second question was in the 2nd or 3rd paragraph and so on.
When I entered college, I caught myself still playing the game but not as much. I realized school was being paid for and I had to take it more seriously and carefully when I learned quickly that old readings and assignments related to new ones. I can't say that I didn't play the game of school during my entire undergrad degree, but, I truly did try to stay away from it. In college it's sort of easy to play the game with some professors, especially if you use Rate My Professor website to get a feel for them before actually taking the class. Some professors simply require attendance to class to count as a large chunk of your overall grade. Some professors don't have any exams, and other professors (that I have had) let you have a take home exam. Professors like this seem to be the easiest to play the game of school with. You can attend class, not pay attention, and still get an A. With a take home exam, all you simply have to do is go back and look for the answers, or even better, google them! New technology has made the game of school even easier than it initially was and it's sad to see so many students and teachers playing this game just to simply get by.